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Energy & Utilities

Cybersecurity for Energy and Utilities

Protect the business technology behind essential services. CISO Global helps energy companies and utilities reduce cyber risk across business networks, remote access, and supporting IT infrastructure.

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Protect Operations That Cannot Afford Downtime

Energy companies and utilities operate systems that need to be available around the clock. Corporate networks, cloud platforms, operational technology, industrial control systems, field equipment, and remote sites may all play a role in producing, managing, or delivering essential services.

Many of those systems were built for reliability and long service lives, not for today’s cybersecurity threats. At the same time, IT and operational environments are becoming more connected, giving organizations better access to information but also creating more connections that must be protected.

Cybersecurity for energy and utilities must account for the availability, reliability, and safety requirements of operational systems.

CISO Global helps organizations secure the supporting IT environment and prepare for cyber incidents that could affect essential services.

Cybersecurity Challenges in Energy and Utilities

IT and Operational
Technology

Energy and utility environments often include both traditional IT systems and operational technology used to monitor or control physical processes. Those systems have different requirements, and security measures that work well in an office environment may not be appropriate for operational systems.

Legacy Systems
and Equipment

Operational equipment can remain in service for many years. Older systems may be difficult to patch, may no longer receive vendor support, or may not work with newer security tools. Replacing them is not always practical when they support critical operations.

Third-Party and
Vendor Access

Equipment manufacturers, contractors, service providers, and other outside partners may need access to critical systems. Organizations need to know who has that access, why they need it, and whether it is still necessary.

Identity and
Privileged Access

Employees, contractors, operators, administrators, and vendors may have different levels of access across IT and operational environments. Privileged accounts require particular attention because a compromised credential can expose critical systems.

Distributed
and Remote
Infrastructure

Facilities, substations, field locations, plants, offices, and other remote assets can create a large footprint to protect. Maintaining consistent security and visibility across those locations can be difficult.

Ransomware
and Operational
Disruption

A cyberattack can interrupt business systems, communications, field operations, or other functions needed to keep services running. If an attack affects operational systems, the impact can include outages, service disruption, and broader business continuity problems.

Limited Visibility
Across the
Environment

Energy and utility organizations may have assets spread across corporate networks, operational environments, and remote sites. Keeping an accurate inventory while tracking vulnerabilities, security findings, and activity across all of them can be difficult.

How CISO Global Helps
Energy and Utility Organizations

CISO Global helps energy companies and utilities strengthen cybersecurity while accounting for the operational requirements of critical systems.

Secure IT and
Cloud Environments

Critical operations also depend on traditional IT. CISO Global’s Secured Managed Services can help manage networks, firewalls, endpoints, and cloud environments, along with patching, backups, and other IT needs that support business and operational functions.

Manage Risk
and Compliance

Energy companies and utilities may need to address regulatory, contractual, customer, insurance, and internal security requirements. Managed GRC can help establish security policies, manage third-party risk, document controls, and track those requirements.

Bring Security Findings Together

Energy and utility organizations may rely on different teams, tools, and service providers to manage security. That can make it difficult to see what has changed, where risk is concentrated, and which issues need attention first.

Argo Security Management connects findings and context from SIEM, MDR, XDR, vulnerability management, external exposure management, asset management, and other cybersecurity tools and services.

Security leaders can review those findings together without relying on separate dashboards and manual reporting.

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Why Energy and Utility Organizations Work With CISO Global

Security and IT Expertise

Work with one team that can support security monitoring, testing, risk management, incident readiness, and secure infrastructure.

Security That Accounts for Operations

Plan security work around operational dependencies and the availability requirements of the systems in scope.

Support Across Multiple Sites

Strengthen security across corporate locations, remote sites, cloud platforms, networks, endpoints, and other connected infrastructure.

Extend Your Internal Team

Add cybersecurity expertise and support without having to build every capability in-house.

Let’s Talk About Your Security Priorities

Speak with a CISO Global cybersecurity expert about your business systems, remote access, and security priorities across operating locations.

Speak with a Security Expert

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between IT and OT cybersecurity?

IT security focuses on systems such as networks, endpoints, applications, and business data. Operational technology (OT) includes systems and equipment that monitor or control physical processes. OT security has to account for operational requirements such as availability, reliability, and safety, so the same security practices used in a traditional IT environment may not always be appropriate. NIST specifically calls out these differences when addressing OT security.

How should cybersecurity assessments and testing be handled in an operational environment?

Assessments involving operational environments need to be carefully scoped around the systems involved and their reliability, availability, and safety requirements. Testing approaches that are appropriate for corporate IT may need to be modified when operational systems or critical equipment are involved.

How can energy and utility organizations manage cybersecurity risk from third parties?

Start by identifying which contractors, vendors, equipment manufacturers, and service providers can access critical systems or sensitive information. Organizations should understand why that access is needed, limit it appropriately, and review it as relationships and responsibilities change.

How can energy and utility organizations prepare for a cyber incident?

Incident response planning should account for the people and systems involved in both business and operational environments. Tabletop exercises can help security, IT, operations, leadership, communications, legal, and other stakeholders work through roles and decisions before an actual incident occurs.